News

Legal highs set to kill more than heroin

THE number of deaths caused by so-called legal highs may overtake those
attributed to heroin within two years, addiction experts fear.

The use of cheap but lethal designer drugs such as meow meow, AMT and Burst,
especially among youngsters, is growing so rapidly that associated deaths
may exceed those linked to heroin — which are projected to stand at about
400 a year by 2016.

The warning is made in a report to be published this week by the Centre for
Social Justice (CSJ), a think tank set up by Iain Duncan Smith, the work and
pensions secretary.

While meow meow, a powerful stimulant related to amphetamine, has been banned,
other designer drugs are being sold legally on the high street and online.

The CSJ report will urge the government to ban the estimated 250 “head shops”
that openly sell the drugs.